Federal Judge dismisses one of many healthcare reform lawsuits.

Once again...It's all about the anti-choice fuckery. From Jurist:

A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Virginia [official website] on Tuesday dismissed [opinion, PDF] a lawsuit challenging a provision of the health care reform law [HR 3590 text; JURIST news archive] requiring all individuals to maintain health insurance. The lawsuit, filed by Liberty University, alleged that Congress had exceeded its constitutional powers by mandating that employers provide health insurance or face financial penalties, requiring individuals to purchase health insurance, and that the law violates the university's religious beliefs because the penalties could be used to fund abortions [JURIST news archive]. Judge Norman Moon, citing a similar ruling [JURIST report] in a Michigan federal court, found that the mandate provisions were constitutional under the Commerce Clause [Cornell LII backgrounder]. Concerning the second issue, Moon ruled that the plaintiffs had not raised a plausible claim that the law is a burden to religious practices.

[Plaintiffs] fail to allege how any payments required under the Act, whether fines, fees, taxes, or the cost of the policy, would be used to fund abortion. Indeed, the Act contains strict safeguards at multiple levels to prevent federal funds from being used to pay for abortion services beyond those in cases of rape or incest, or where the life of the woman would be endangered. Furthermore, at least one plan that does not cover non-excepted abortion services will be offered for enrollment through each of the state health benefit exchanges, as required by the Act. Moreover, the Act specifically allows plans in the exchanges to decline to cover all abortion services whatsoever, including excepted abortion services.

Liberty University will appeal the decision immediately to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website].

The health care reform law is the subject of numerous legal challenges across the country. In October, a federal judge in Florida denied a motion to dismiss [JURIST report] a lawsuit alleging violations of Article I and the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution [text], committed by levying a tax without regard to census data, property or profession, and for invading the sovereignty of the states. In August, a federal judge allowed a similar lawsuit filed in Virginia to proceed on narrow grounds [opinion, PDF; JURIST report], addressing only subject matter jurisdiction [Cornell LII backgrounder] and the legal sufficiency of the complaint. 

Liberty University is that....cough..college founded by the rightwing extremist/bible thumper and anti-choice asshole Jerry Falwell. The law school section, which opened in August of 2004, didn't receive full ABA (American Bar Assoc) accreditation until August 5th 2010. They also teach creationism...I know, what a surprise there.

I watched the whole thing.

The so-called Healthcare Summit has just ended. All the Federal fuckwits are standing around making small talk, slapping each other on the back and laughing too loud.

Nothing got done. There were a few priceless moments when The Big O slapped various rightwingers around verbally. TPM Muckraker has them in video form.

I am trying to decide whether I learned anything from these 8 or so friggin hours...

Ask me later. It's happy hour at my house, as of right now. Whew...what a waste of a day.

Watching history on Cspan:‘‘Affordable Health Care for America Act’’

I have had the telly tuned into the House since 5am this morning. I was anxious for the debate to begin.

Well, it finally has. It's incredible to watch the fuckwits with the (R) after their name, talk shit about HR 3962(pdf). The outright lies they have the audacity to recite. The bullshit they toss out as if it is the truth and nothing but the truth. I took the time to sift through the 1900+ pages of it. How many of the R's actually did that I wonder..

Watching my own representative Kevin McCarthy (R) was an exercise in futility and frustration for me. The "S" word, oh lawd..the "S" word used again and again and again. The dreaded single payer health care, said like it's a dirty word, a horrible illness in and of itself.

But then, I also got to watch my favorite, Henry Waxman. He was eloquent, he was spot-fucking-on. He laid out what the bill will fix, what it will do away with. Facts, just the facts..no fearmongering like the (R)'s.

Does this bill make me happy? Fuck no..far from it. I am a supporter of single-payer. But it's a start in the right direction, and it will curb the carpetbaggers at the insurance corporations who have been fucking us for decades. 

There will be four hours of debate..tune in and watch a little history folks. Read the bill for yourself..or at least tab through it. Watch the debate online at Cspan.org.

Because it's taken almost 100 years to get this close to change. It's worth your time.

Americans United takes aim at Ohio's Boehner

John Mr.Orange Boehner, head of the rethugs spin machine waxed poetic about Ohioan's desire to NOT have a public option. Yeah right jackass...from American's United:


Americans United for Change unveiled a new television ad today calling out Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) for his laughable claim that “I’m still trying to find the first American to talk to who is in favor of the public option” as part of health insurance reform.  Airing on cable television in Columbus, OH next week, the spot called “Boehner’s Bogey” notes that the Congressman may be spending too much time on golf courses in Florida and lost touch with his constituents back home considering a recent Quinnipiac University poll showing “Ohio voters support 57 - 35 percent the idea of giving American consumers the option of buying health insurance from a government-run plan.”  Recent national polls found 62 Percent of the American public and three out of four doctors support a public option. 

So, with all that truthiness..I want whatever the hell Johnny boy is smoking. 

Lawrence ODonnell tells it like it is. And it's f*%ked up.

And what it is, is this:

The majority of Dem's in the Senate don't give a shit what is IN the healthcare bill, they just want to pass A BILL. Nan Pelosi is on the same fucking page in the House of Rep's. And if Rahm speaks for the Pres, Obama doesn't give a rat's ass what is in it either.

Twenty three worthless Blue Dogs will not vote for a bill w/the public option in it. One hundred progressive rep's will not vote for a bill without the public option.

Ten to twenty million people will still not have health care insurance according to Lawrence.

And I fucking believe him. Because when Obama is pressed, he admits not all American's will have health insurance. He won't give a number..but he has admitted it several times in the last few months.

It's getting harder and harder to support Democrats for me. It's even harder to support Obama at this juncture. This issue is very important to millions of American's, including me.

I am tired of friends and loved-ones dying from a lack of health insurance. Or, dying because their health insurance provider won't pay for specific procedures that might save them or at the very least make what's left of their lives comfortable.

Healthcare is rationed now people..fuck Sarah Palin and her buddies. Fuck all those selfish bastards that could give two shits if everyone in America has access to affordable healthcare, as long as they have healthcare.

I will vote for my cat in lieu of Democrats, after supporting the damn public option instead of universal, single-payer healthcare...only to see it fall by the wayside. I shit you not. I will not support another Democratic asshole if we get hosed on this lousy-ass public option.

I leave for Sandy Eggo at six a.m. tomorrow for a week. But..I will have internet..so you aren't rid of me that easily.

Nutter punches 65 year old healthcare reform supporter.

If this doesn't tell you what ignorant bags of batshit are on the anti-healthcare reform bandwagon...I don't know what the hell will. From the RawStory link:

A 65-year-old man cheering healthcare reform in Miami was punched in the face and knocked to the ground by an opponent of a public health plan, according to a reporter at the scene. The rally took place outside a Great Miami Chamber of Commerce event where Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL - below right) was speaking.

"Luis Perrero of Coral Gables was standing among about 40 Democratic activists and union workers when a man in a Ford pick-up truck pulled up to the rally at Jungle Island and began arguing with the crowd," the Herald's Tolouse Oloronippa blogged Wednesday. "The man, who only gave his first name as Raul, said Perrero called him a Spanish curse word. He punched Perrero in the face. Perrero fell to the ground and lay motionless for a few minutes."

Sweet-friggin-Jaysus-in-a-speedo..wtf? Punching out an old man for crying out loud? Way to go, you worthless asshole!

The extreme nutters are coming out of the woodwork over the healthcare debate. We can blame Chuck the fuck Grassley and just about every other Rethug or Blue Dog for this violent bullshit.

They are feeding it, and the 'rightwing terrorists' are doing their part evidently. The 65 yo victim had this to say:

"I'm amazed the way this has become such a politicized issue,'' Perrero said, while still sitting on the ground but sitting up. "It shows that people who are against the public option will resort to anything, including battery on a senior citizen to prevent healthcare reform.''

Sadly, I am not amazed. I expect it to get much worse. The Big O however will speak to the idiots in Congress Sept 9th. Can't wait for this newest bullshit session. What do you want to bet he drops the Public Option? Any takers on that bet?

WAIT!!!! There is more. From C&L this video of the nutters shouting down a woman in a wheelchair at another townhall. Disgusting morons really take the cake.

Can there be any room for a centrist at a health care reform town hall meeting

Healthcare reform..left of center economists discuss.

Good video from C&L, it's the ABC news roundtable from Sunday's This Week, with some interesting folks in attendance:


Krugman and Robert Reich are there. Warms the cockles of my little black heart to see both of them at the table with the nimrod George Will. The topic was of course...healthcare reform!

Krugman talks about the hypocrisy of the Rethugs and specifically Johnny McCain.

George Will asks the inane question, are drug prices too high? He actually says he doesn't know..idiot on aisle two!

Reich has an OpEd up at Salon that answers his own question, Why in the blue hell does the Gang of Six get to decide the fate of healthcare reform:

It's not even as if the gang represents America. The three Dems in the gang are from Montana, New Mexico and North Dakota – states that together account for just over 1 percent of Americans. The three Republicans are from Maine, Wyoming and Iowa, which together account for 1.6 percent of the American population.

No shit Mr. Reich..why in the blue hell do these fuckwits get to determine what is done? Tiny states with minimal populations will determine which road we go down, with respect to healthcare reform? Horseshit I say!

Still wading through the Torture Report, a chapter at a time. It's hard to make sense of it when page after page is completely redacted.

Anthony Weiner-Medicare, aka single-payer, for everyone!

I never watch Morning Joe. Never. I hate his dumb ass, and frankly he always refuses to deal with and/or answer legitimate questions posed by intelligent guests that are left of the center.

What forced me to watch the clip below was this great read over at The Nation. Let me start by saying I wish to hell Anthony Weiner was my Congressional critter. He is spot-fucking-on with his logic in this interview with Joey Scar. Just a few of his points, courtesy of The Nation piece:

He even repeated Weiner's points clearly: The goverment would take over only the "paying mechanism" of healthcare, not the doctors or their medical decisions themselves. His ears perked up every time Weiner mentioned that the nonprofit Medicare spends 4 percent on overhead, while private insurers spend 30 percent.

*snip*

Maybe the real turning point came when Weiner asked, "How does Wal-mart offer $4 prescriptions?" Joe and co-host Mika Brzezinski looked as if they'd been thwacked by a hardback copy of Atlas Shrugged, and sat back to let the congressman explain it all to them:

They go to the pharmaceutical companies and say, "Listen, we have a giant buying pool here. You're going to give us a great deal."

Who's bigger than Wal-Mart? We are, the taxpayers. Do we do that? No. Because we have outsourced this to insurance companies who don't have necessarily as much incentive to keep those costs down because, frankly, they are getting a piece of the action.

As for the free-market freaks..Weiner asks Joey Scar and Mika..what exactly does the Health Insurance Industry provide, create, make or manufacture? Health Insurance is NOT a commodity!

What is an insurance company? They don't do a single check-up. They don't do a single exam, they don't perform an operation. Medicare has a 4 percent overhead rate. The real question is why do we have a private plan?

The Insurance companies are nothing more than carpet-bagging middlemen that are subsidized by our tax dollars in many instances. 40 percent of Insured Americans get their healthcare from a single payer, government-run source-VA, Medicaid, Medicare, SCHIP, Dept of Defense, etc.

Jon Stewart takes on the Queen of the 'Deather's'.

These are the uncensored clips folks..enjoy Stewart making his points and Betsy baby ignores him completely and keeps shilling for the extreme right. 

Part dos of the interview, again uncensored:


This broad is out of her friggin mind. No wonder she was pushed out the door of the Corporate-lovin' bunch of whore's, The Hudson Institute.

H/T to C&L for having these vid's up.

Remote Area Medical not so remote this week.

Remote Area Medical. These people are saints and angels. They are used to servicing third world countries.

Except this week, they served Los Angeles. You know..SoCal, the land of starlets and movie moguls.

By the time they leave Tuesday, they will have provided roughly $2 million dollars of free treatment to over 10,000 people.

Read that line again. It's sickening to me because so many more thousands will have been turned away. These were by and large the working poor, some even had medical insurance but had outrageous deductions or their insurance didn't cover things like dentists and glasses. From The Independant UK via TruthOut:

In the week that Britain's National Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an "evil and Orwellian" example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California yesterday provided a sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the US system.

The LA Forum, the arena that once hosted sell-out Madonna concerts, has been transformed – for eight days only – into a vast field hospital. In America, the offer of free healthcare is so rare, that news of the magical medical kingdom spread rapidly and long lines of prospective patients snaked around the venue for the chance of getting everyday treatments that many British people take for granted.

In the first two days, more than 1,500 men, women and children received free treatments worth $503,000 (£304,000). Thirty dentists pulled 471 teeth; 320 people were given standard issue spectacles; 80 had mammograms; dozens more had acupuncture, or saw kidney specialists.

In one of the richest cities in our nation, 10,000 people will be given basic medical, dental or vision care that they would otherwise do without. As Dana Gould says in the video below..WTF??

The video below starts out with a nasty townhall meeting and outside protesters. Lots of folks with health insurance who don't give a shit about those without insurance. Lots of folks tossing around the words Hitler and Nazi to describe our President that is trying to fix one of the biggest problems to face any administration in the last few decades.

As a native Californian, I am embarrassed and ashamed that R.A.M. had to stop in L.A. It makes me angry that many people on the right can not see the forest for the fucking trees.

It's a good video..part of Bill Maher's show this week. Check it out and then see if you can keep your blood pressure down after seeing the fucking idiots bitching about reforming healthcare...then the folks who are grateful that they got to have a little free healthcare to make their lives more tolerable. Thanks to Crooks and Liars for the video which can be viewed here on my video page.

They are marginalized, therefore they are bitter.

Reading MSNBC’s First Read this morning, I was struck right between the eyes by one section regarding the rightwing nutters coming out of the woodwork and why:

They were irritated with the direction of the country after the 2008 election, with a man as president they didn’t vote for, and with a Congress ruled by Democrats. They were angry with being out of power and having — because of being in the minority — what they felt was no say.

That, m’dear reader, is the crux of the problem. They are just pissed the fuck off that they LOST control of the government.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..fuck all you rightwing nutters..twice even. Suck it up and deal with it, like we had to do for eight-long-fucking-years under the Bush cartel.

Perhaps they all aren’t astroturfer’s after all. They are just highly pissed off that they are marginalized and have no real say anymore. All their representatives were either voted out or hanging onto districts thick with rightwing nutters when the majority of the state voted blue in 2006 and ‘08. So, like spoiled children all they can do is make a scene and scream at the top of their lungs. Again, from First Read:

But there was no indication that these folks were so-called “Astroturf” grassroots supporters. There were many who were affiliated with the tea parties and even LaRouchies likening Obama to Hitler. One LaRouche organizer said he was there to “cause some trouble.”

*snip*

They are the true believers. They were also big-time Fox News viewers and Glenn Beck disciples, hammering home the perception that this is where these people get their news, er, information. One mother-daughter combo — unprompted — enthusiastically boasted, “Fox rules!” “It’s all we ever watch!”

These fuckwits will not go away quietly, they are going to raise holy hell every chance they get. Because, that is all they have…acting like a 3 year old in the grocery store that didn’t get his way. They will be constantly whipped up by the likes of Limbaugh, Dick Armey and their ilk.

So we need to fight fire with a gigantic money-laden firehose. From Politico:

A new coalition on Thursday launched $12 million in television ads to support President Barack Obama’s health reform plan, in the opening wave of a planned tens of millions of dollars this fall.

The new group, funded largely by the pharmaceutical industry, is called Americans for Stable Quality Care. It includes some odd bedfellows: the American Medical Association, FamiliesUSA, the Federation of American Hospitals, PhRMA and SEIU, the service employees’ union.

The decision of labor and progressive groups to join with industry groups could draw new heat about the president’s package from the left.

The ads began airing at about 11 a.m. ET Thursday.

At this point..I don’t give a shit who does it, I just want the nutters exposed and then marginalized once again. They lost, they are now the minority and as such get nothing but a lump of coal in their stockings. From Politico again:

The official provides a little more back story: “These groups were part of a looser coalition that started back in January that focused on the links between health reform and the economy. Now that the debate is turning on what health reform means for the individual, they felt the need to launch a new front that addresses some of those particulars while debunking some of the myths that are floating around. Plus, these groups recognize that their collective voice packs more punch than if they were to just speak out individually.”

As long as they have money and connections..go for it..slap the shit out of the reichwing jackasses..you have my permission.